I'm still looking for people on Insignia's May 15, 2009 Venice to Rome cruise. There must be some of you out there, since the ship is pretty full. I'd love to start a roll call so we can share ideas about the ports, tours, and this cruise in particular. It's our 4th Oceania cruise but the first 16 day. We've done two 14 day cruises and one 12 day cruise. We love Oceania and my husband and I are hoping to "meet" some of you prior to cruising. By the way is anyone staying at Locanda Orseolo in Venice pre-cruise and wants to share a water taxi to the port?
Joan

Hi Carl and Barbara,
Glad to hear that you're on this cruise. You'll love Oceania. We've loved every one of our cruises with them. This itinerary looks great. We usually don't use the ship's tours. We've taken the "Florence on your own" with them which is basically transportation to the city. That way we don't worry about getting back to the port on time. We've been to several of the ports and I think you're right about being able to do them without ship's tours. Looking forward to meeting you and being in touch before the cruise.
Joan

It was great to hear from you.
Where are you from ?
We are from NY but live here in Fla full time.
We are "expert cruises" but mostly the Caribbean.
We have only been on one Med cruise.
I always go nuts trying to figure out what tours to do .
This trip should be alittle more relaxing.

We live in Florida also but in Hollywood in South Florida. We raised our family here. I grew up in Boston and Bob grew up in Harrisburg, Pa. We're really looking forward to this cruise. Last year we did a land trip to Italy and at one point, after lugging our suitcases onto the train, I really wanted to be on a cruise. We're going into Venice three days early. Are you getting to Venice early or on cruise day? I was really glad to hear from you.
Joan

Hi Everyone,
We just made final payment for the cruise and are really starting to get excited about the cruise. Carl and Barbara, are you still planning on taking the cruise. I really hope so. I hope to hear from anyone on this cruise and looking forward to getting together on board.
Joan

We just paid for the cruise.
We are sometimes on the East Coast of Fla. My sister lives in Boca West.
Perhaps we can get together before the cruise.
We are flying in the day before and arrive the 15th in the morning.
We will drop the luggage off and hopefully have some energy to start seeing Venice.

Barbara,
So glad that you're definitely going. Even if you're too tired on the 15th to walk around Venice, you still have all day on the 16th. We're thrilled that we're arriving in Venice three days early. We'll probably get to the ship around 1:00 on the 15th. There are so many ports on this cruise. We'll probably make the Corfu/Albania day a "sea day" just to relax. If you're in the Boca area we'd love to meet you. Email me at rcohen3989@aol.com and I'll give you my phone number.
Joan

Just checking to see if anyone else has booked for this cruise. It's getting closer and we're really looking forward to it. Barbara and Carl, are you still going? We'd love to meet you both on board. Hope to hear from anyone sailing with us.
Joan

Hi Barbara,
Great to hear from you. Sorry, neither of us plays bridge, but I know that you'll find lots of players on board. We're in 8049. What tours have you booked? The ones in Koper, Slovenia look good. We have a Croatian friend whose husband is from Koper.
Joan

Hi Barbara,
Did you get your cruise documents this week? They're very different from the way they used to be/ No more "leather" envelope to hold tickets, etc. I do like the way that they 're personalized.
We have some more people cruising with us. Check out the Roll Call section from Oceania and go tp Insignia. So far there are about 14 people on the Roll Call. I'd love to set up a time and place for everyone to meet in the first couple of days of the cruise. It's a nice way to meet people.. Nothing against cruisemates, but right now there is more activity on Cruise Critic.
Stay in touch. We'd love to meet you onboard.
Joan

Hi, we'll be on this cruise, our 4th on Oceania. We'll leave the US on Sunday, 5/10 and spend 4 days in Rome. Train from Rome to Venice on 5/15 and then a water taxi to the ship. Extravagent(probably 100 Euros for a 5 minute boat ride)but you only live once. We'll be in Cabin 8056.

Hi Barbara and garyverde. We leave for Venice on May 11 and will spend three nights there pre cruise. There's a group of cruisers from this board and Cruise Critic getting together on the first Sunday night at 6:30 at Martinis. Love to see you there. We're going from the airport to our hotel in a water taxi. We love it. We'll take a water taxi from our hotel to the ship on Friday. This will be our fourth Oceania cruise also. We're almost neightbors. We're in 8046.
Joan